Anti-Slip Substrates

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for modifying a layer of a plastics material containing conductive fibers. The method includes electrophoretically depositing a bead of a polymer material at locations of a surface of the layer where the conductive fibers are exposed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of recently allowed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/021,457, filed on Mar. 11, 2016, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Devices such as mobile phones, tablets and portable (e.g. laptop or palm) computers are generally housed in a smooth shell of plastics or metal material.

However, the shell of a device may be slippery to handle particularly if a user's hands are moist and may slide on an inclined surface. Accordingly a secondary market has developed for non-slip or protective cases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The disclosure is described by way of non-limiting examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A shows a perspective view of an example of a housing for a device;

FIG. 1B shows a perspective view of the housing of FIG. 1 with a part of the housing cut away;

FIG. 1C shows, on an enlarged scale, a part of the housing of FIG. 1 labelled ‘A’ in FIG. 1B of the drawings;

FIG. 2A shows a sectional view of a stage of an example of a method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface of a layer of a plastics material containing conductive fibers;

FIG. 2B shows a sectional view of a further stage of the method of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3A shows a sectional view of a stage of another example of a method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface of a layer of a plastics material containing conductive fibers;

FIG. 3B shows a sectional view of a further stage of the method of FIG. 3B;

FIG. 4A shows a sectional view of a stage of yet another example of a method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface of a layer of a plastics material containing conductive fibers;

FIG. 4B shows a sectional view of a further stage of the method of FIG. 4A; and

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of an example of a method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface of a layer of a plastics material containing conductive fibers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One aspect of the disclosure relates to a method of modifying a layer of a plastics material containing conductive fibers. The method includes electrophoretically depositing a bead of a polymer material at locations of a surface of the layer where the conductive fibers are exposed. The beads impart a slip resistant finish to the surface of the layer.

Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a shell of a housing for a device. The method includes providing a shell of a plastics material containing conductive fibers which are exposed at spaced apart locations of a surface of the shell. Beads of polymer material are electrophoretically deposited on the surface of the shell at the locations of the surface of the shell. The beads impart a slip resistant finish to the surface of the shell.

Yet a further aspect of the disclosure relates to a housing for a device. The housing includes a fiber reinforced plastics shell including conductive fibers. The shell defines a surface and the conductive fibers are exposed at spaced apart locations of the surface of the shell. A slip resistant finish is carried by the surface of the shell, the slip resistant finish comprising electrophoretically deposited polymer material arranged at the locations of the shell.

In this specification, the term “electrophoretic deposition” is to be understood to include any deposition technique whereby charged particles in suspension are deposited on an electrically conductive substrate under the influence of an electric field.

FIGS. 1A to 1C illustrate an example of a housing 100 for a device. The housing 100 includes a fiber reinforced shell 102 of a plastics material including conductive fibers 104 (FIG. 1C). The shell 102 defines a surface 106. The conductive fibers 104 are exposed at spaced apart locations 108 (one of which is illustrated in FIG. 1C) of the surface 106 of the shell 102.

A slip resistant finish 110 is applied to the surface 106 of the shell 102. The slip resistant finish 110 comprises beads 112 of electrophoretically deposited polymer material. The beads 112 are deposited on the surface 106 of the shell 102 at the locations 108 effectively to cover the exposed conductive fibers 104.

The housing 100 is intended for portable devices such as mobile phones, tablet or portable (laptop, notebook or palm) computers, printers, scanners, watches, cameras, glasses, or the like. The plastics material from which the shell 102 is made is one of a thermoplastics and a thermosetting plastics material depending on the application of the housing 100.

As described above, the shell 102 is a fiber reinforced shell which is reinforced by the conductive fibers 104. The fibers are carbon fibers. In the illustrated examples, the fibers are arranged in the plastics material in a weave having intersecting or crossing threads 114 and 116. Instead, the fibers 104 could be uni-directionally arranged in the shell 102.

At least in some of the examples, the positions where the threads 114, 116 cross create the exposed locations 108 of the surface 106 of the shell 102.

The polymer material used in the electrophoretic deposition of the beads 112 is at least one of epoxy and polyacrylate polymers. While the beads 112 have been illustrated as semispherical in shape, this is for illustrative purposes only. The beads 112 could have other shapes such as concave, polygonal, pyramidal, oval, or any other desired shapes. Appropriate application techniques are used to control the formation of the beads to provide the required shapes. These application techniques include screen printing, film transfers, ink transfer, inkjet printing, or the like.

Further, the beads 112 are able to be deposited on the surface 106 of the shell to form a pattern on the shell 102. For example, the pattern could define a logo or other device. In addition, the polymer material used for the beads 112 could be of different colors to provide suitable patterning, etc.

With reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B, two stages of an example of a method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface 200 of a layer 202 of a plastics material is illustrated. The layer 202 of plastics material is reinforced with conductive fibers 204 arranged in a weave configuration. Points where the conductive fibers 204 cross define exposed locations 206 (one of which is illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B) in the surface 200 of the layer 202.

A bead 208 of a polymer material is deposited using electrophoretic deposition and relying on the conductivity of the conductive fibers 204 of the layer 202 of plastics material. Each bead 208 overlies the crossing point of the fibers 204 effectively to close off its associated exposed location 206 of the layer 202. The beads 208 together define the slip resistant finish on the surface 200 of the layer 202.

FIGS. 3A and 3B of the drawings illustrate two stages of another example of a method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface 300 of a layer 302 of a plastics material. The layer 302 of plastics material is reinforced with conductive fibers 304 arranged in a weave configuration.

An insulating mask 308 is applied to the surface 300 of the layer 302 of plastics material. The surface 300 of the layer 302 is then worked by etching it to form exposed locations 306 (one of which is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B) in the surface 300 of the layer 302. The etching technique used is laser etching, chemical etching, or the like.

A bead 310 of polymer material is deposited using electrophoretic deposition at each exposed location 306 of the layer 302 to define the slip resistant finish on the surface 300 of the layer 302.

Depending on the material used to form the layer 302 as well as the application of the layer 302, the insulating mask 308 can either be left in position on the layer 302 or it can be removed prior to the completion of the finished product made from the layer 302.

FIGS. 4A and 4B of the drawings illustrate two stages of yet another example of a method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface 400 of a layer 402 of a plastics material. The layer 402 of plastics material is reinforced with conductive fibers 404 arranged in a weave configuration.

In this example, the surface 400 of the layer 402 is worked to expose the conductive fibers 404 at locations 406 (one of which is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B). The surface 400 is worked by an etching technique, an abrading technique, or the like to expose the conductive fibers 404 at the locations 406.

A bead 408 of polymer material is deposited using electrophoretic deposition at each exposed location 406 of the layer 402 to define the slip resistant finish on the surface 400 of the layer 402.

Referring to FIG. 5 of the drawings, a flow chart of the method of forming a slip resistant finish on a surface of layer of a plastics material is illustrated and is designated generally by reference numeral 500.

At 502, a substrate comprising a layer of conductive fiber reinforced plastics material is prepared. This preparation step optionally includes forming the layer into a shell to be used as a housing for a device. Alternatively the layer may have been pre-formed into the shell and is supplied to have the slip resistant finish applied.

At 504, the substrate undergoes a degreasing process using a degreasing agent followed, at 506, by an initial rinsing process to remove the degreasing agent. Deionized water is used in the rinsing process using ultrasonics.

Passivation of the substrate is carried out at 508. The passivation agent used is a water based chemical passivation agent. A suitable passivation agent is available from Akamizu of No. 51, Ln. 293, Sec. 1, Singnong Rd., Beidou Township, Changhua County 52141, Taiwan (R.O.C.).

After passivation, the substrate undergoes a further rinsing process, as shown at 510, to remove excess passivation agent. Rinsing is, once again, carried out using deionized water in an ultrasonic machine.

At 512, electrophoretic deposition is carried out to deposit beads of polymeric material on to the surface of the substrate at locations of the substrate where conductive fibers of the substrate have been exposed. The deposition of the beads provides the slip resistant finish to the surface of the substrate.

After deposition of the slip resistant finish, the substrate is again rinsed, as shown at 514, to remove excess deposited polymeric material. This rinsing is also carried out using deionized water in an ultrasonic machine.

Finally, as shown at 516, the substrate undergoes a baking or ultraviolet curing process to set the deposited beads defining the slip resistant finish. When a baking process of the substrate takes place, this is effected in an oven at a temperature of not less than 120° C., not exceeding 180° C. and, more particularly, at about 170° C.

As described above, the electrophoretically deposited beads of the slip resistant finish 110 could be arranged in a decorative pattern and the beads may have different colors and/or textures. Thus, housings can be formed having logos, letters, numbers, symbols and other patterns on them. The beads 112 can be of different colors from one another and from the color of the shell 102 itself to provide an attractive visual appearance.

The provision of the slip-resistant finish 110 on the shell 102 also imparts a tactile feel to the shell 102 and may also have health benefits as it could be anti-bacterially treated.

It is an advantage of the described examples that a method is provided which imparts a slip resistant finish to a housing in a cost effective and efficient manner. Electrophoretic deposition results in a reduced manufacturing cycle time and reduced labor input with the associated cost savings. There are also fewer processing steps which leads to energy savings and reduced emission of carbon-based pollutants.

Numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the above-described examples, without departing from the broad general scope of the present disclosure. For example, while the plastics material of the layer or shell is illustrated as including one layer only, the plastics material may comprise multiple layers arranged in a laminate. Still further, while the polymer material is shown on one side of the substrate only, the electrophoretically deposited material may be applied to more than one side and/or around the entire plastics material. The present examples are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. 

1. A method of modifying a layer of a plastics material containing conductive fibers, the method comprising: electrophoretically depositing a bead of a polymer material at locations of a surface of the layer where the conductive fibers are exposed.
 2. The method of claim 1 which includes forming the plastics material as a shell of a housing for a device.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the conductive fibers are exposed via openings at spaced apart locations of the surface of the layer.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the bead of the polymer material is electrophoretically deposited at the openings of the spaced apart locations of the layer where the conductive fibers are exposed.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the conductive fibers are arranged in a weave configuration and points where the conductive fibers cross in the weave configuration define locations where the conductive fibers are exposed.
 6. A method of manufacturing a shell of a housing for a device, the method comprising: providing a shell of a plastics material containing conductive fibers which are exposed at spaced apart locations of a surface of the shell; and electrophoretically depositing beads of polymer material on the surface of the shell at the locations of the surface of the shell.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: degreasing the surface of the carbon fiber reinforced plastics material with a degreasing agent before the electrophoretic deposition is performed; and rinsing the surface of the carbon fiber reinforced plastics material to remove the degreasing agent.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: passivating the surface of the carbon fiber reinforced plastics material before the electrophoretic deposition is performed.
 9. The method of claim 6, further comprising: applying an insulating film to the surface of the shell in a pattern to form a mask before the electrophoretic deposition.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: applying the insulating film by at least one of screen printing and ink-jet printing.
 11. The method of claim 6, further comprising: working the surface of the shell at the locations to expose the conductive fibers before performing the electrophoretic deposition.
 12. The method of claim 6, wherein the conductive fibers are exposed via openings at spaced apart locations of the surface of the shell.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the beads of the polymer material is electrophoretically deposited at the openings of the spaced apart locations of the shell where the conductive fibers are exposed.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the conductive fibers are arranged in a weave configuration and points where the conductive fibers cross in the weave configuration define locations where the conductive fibers are exposed.
 15. The method of claim 6, further comprising: curing the beads of polymer material that are electrophoretically deposited on the surface of the shell. 